Warrioress
by Flamewind
Summary: In the wrong place at the wrong time, competitive battler Samantha Everett finds herself in the center of a massive criminal syndicate of pokemon thieves. Unfortunately for them, they chose the wrong person to steal from.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon.

Please review and tell me what you think of this, flame away if need be.

**Prologue**

She had the sands of Orre in her heart. Its inferno had tempered her, made her tough and unbending—the perfect battler, a top-notch trainer who worked endlessly with her pokemon to make the best team. She could navigate her way around an arena with pokemon as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

And it had taken her years of practice to get this way.

Born and raised in the battleground that was Orre, this young woman had been bombarded with the ideals of the region, the fervor that its people had for watching pokemon fight. Battling was a mainstay of Orre, the pulsing heart of such a desolate and unforgiving land, where few wild pokemon could bear to survive.

Samantha Everett had believed, as every child who spent their childhood in Orre, that battling was the only thing to strive for. She had slowly struggled up the ranks of trainers, starting with two pokemon, each gifts from regions outside of Orre that she'd never been and could not imagine. Of course, she had heard of the Outside from the pansy trainers who came to Orre thinking they knew how to battle. The Outside, where rain was a normal occurrence and the people did not have to worry about surviving sandstorms that blocked out the sun for days.

The Outside had once seemed so foreign, a place she'd never want to go. She had battled for seven years under the harsh Orre sun, and hadn't considered the possibility of going someplace easier on her and her pokemon.

Yet her battling life had come unraveled in the course of a single battle, on platform ninety-two of Mount Battle. That high up, the sun was brighter and harsher than ever, sunlight reflecting off the platform and making it terribly bright, even through the gray haze of her sunglasses. Samantha was both uncomfortably hot and chilled at the same time, due to the wind which numbed her ears and whistled hollowly through the spinning blades upon the underside of the platform.

Her opponent was an elderly man, his weathered face impassive as his gaze sized up her stance and the pokeball she clutched in one hand. He had introduced himself as Roben, and seemed to quiver with excitement. Area Ten did not receive many challengers.

The only other soul upon that platform was a young man dressed in the traditional green uniform of a referee. He held up two flags to indicate that they could begin.

"Knock 'em out, Leo!" Samantha called to the aggron which emerged from her pokeball and threw his head back as he unleashed a fearsome roar. Leo, short for Leonidas, was named for his fearlessness. He was a powerful pokemon, and had been with her for four years, ever since pokemon started returning to the caves in northern Orre.

A similar roar of challenge came from the throat of the aggron that Roben had released. Both pokemon paused for a couple seconds, each aggressive pokemon recognizing an enemy in the other. Samantha thought fast, her eyes narrowed at her opponent's pokemon. It was as thickly muscled as her own aggron, its body polished and gleaming brightly. The two pokemon were evenly matched.

"Double-edge," she ordered. It wouldn't do much damage, but she could get a better measure on the opponent and its trainer's strategy. Leo growled as he lowered the wickedly sharp twin horns on his head and charged, his massive weight shaking the platform with every stride. The other aggron was ordered to do the same.

Steel grated sharply on steel as the pokemon locked horns and scratched at each other's hides with the long claws upon their front paws. Sparks flew from the contact of claws on hide. On his trainer's order, Leo swung his heavy tail around, it glowing with power, and crushed it against his opponent's side. It left a visible dent in its hide, one that Leo soon mirrored as the other aggron did the same.

Samantha wished for many things during that first round—if her aggron knew earthquake, he would have easily won. If she could switch him out for another pokemon, he wouldn't have lost to the other aggron after several long minutes of watching the aggron bellow and scratch, disengage and charge again, even resorting to head butting and biting one another. Leo eventually lost, his opponent swaying unsteadily above his unconscious form as it roared its triumph.

She considered her next move carefully, knowing that her opponent had the upper hand. Roben could not recall his aggron, as Mount Battle rules strictly called for a pokemon to stay in the fight until it fell over in exhaustion or until all its enemies had done so. Her opponent's aggron would be defeated easily now, but then Roben would be able to call upon a pokemon that could counter her own.

Finally, she decided to unleash Aerian. The weavile cried eagerly, his high-pitched voice no longer making Samantha wince, though she saw her elderly opponent was not expecting the weasel's shriek.

Aerian covered his yawn with one paw. His trainer had woken him up yet again, and sunlight sent jolts of sharp pain through his watering eyes. Not that he could complain, as he sneered in the direction of the aggron. He could smell the familiar, acrid scent of aggron blood.

Samantha had motioned for a pause in the fight, and was in her pack, digging up a spare pair of sunglasses for her weavile. She figured the treacherous pokemon thought her an idiot for sending him out in this arena above the clouds, where the sunlight was too hot and far too harsh for him.

The trainer had only won the weavile less than a year ago, back when he was still a sneasel. He had quickly turned into a powerful addition to her team, strongest by night, yet still getting used to fighting by day. Samantha and Aerian were still getting used to each other's… quirks. The arrogant weavile refused to carry a pair of sunglasses, forcing her to do so for him. He did some tactical thinking of his own in a fight, causing her no end of heartburn when he didn't follow her orders.

"Here, Aerian," she said, tossing him a pair of sunglasses wide enough to cover his eyes and dark enough to protect his vision. The weavile leered at her for a moment through the glasses, before turning to the injured aggron, his claws extending to their full length eagerly.

As the referee called for their battle to begin, Aerian sprang into action without waiting for an order. His lithe body was a blur as he rushed forward and punched the aggron square in its chest. He sidestepped the massive pokemon as it pitched forward with a pained gasp. It had fainted.

Aerian returned to her side, and she said in a furious undertone, "I don't care how strong you are, I'll trade you off to a magikarp salesman if you don't wait for my orders."

The weavile simply grinned in reply.

Across from them, Roben seemed torn as to what pokemon to send out next. Maybe he didn't have a pokemon who could counter her weavile—it had happened before. The evolution of sneasel could use a wide variety of moves, and he'd seen brick break, a fighting type move which took down many whom her weavile would otherwise be weak against.

Finally, Samantha found herself staring at a bright purple, bat-like pokemon which glided on the wind. She stuck her tongue out at Aerian, and his trainer could hear him growl in anger. "This is easy. Ice punch," she ordered her pokemon.

Aerian leapt towards the gligar, frost forming upon his wickedly curved claws. He jumped, swinging at the place where his opponent had been, before she disappeared with what sounded awfully like a laugh.

"Guillotine!" A part of her went cold at Roben's yelled order. This gligar was _fast_ and Aerian was obviously underestimating her, as he stood still and waited, sneering, for the bat to stop her quick circles of the arena and swoop down on him.

And she did—behind him. She grabbed onto the red ruff of fur covering his throat and squeezed, suffocating the weavile. His retaliating slashes grew weak until he went limp in her grasp, completely fainted.

Samantha recalled him quickly, before the move turned deadly. His pokeball released a brief white flash as his sunglasses were rejected from the small orb. Even unconscious, Aerian somehow still refused to carry the sunglasses for longer than necessary.

She released her next pokemon as she stooped to pick up the discarded shades. Little thought went into the decision, as she had only one pokemon who could successfully combat in the air.

Scimitar, her skarmory, was silent as usual. His keen eyes regarded his opponent, seeing her while his trainer had lost track of her. Unfurling his wings with a soft scrape, metal on metal, he flexed the wing blades he was named after while waiting patiently for his trainer's orders.

He was the first pokemon she caught, over five years ago, and was once a free spirit over the hot sands deep within the desert. A pokemon of survival, he had been one of the scattering of pokemon who chose to live off the land before it became more hospitable to pokemon. As such, he too had the battling spirit of Orre at his heart, encased as it was within the unfeeling shell of his metal body.

Samantha started him off with agility, watching as he soared upon the air currents and let his muscles relax, until his speed was nearly as sharp as the gligar's. Scimitar hit his opponent upside her head with his wings, flapping hard to steady himself as she threw herself at top speed into his side, cutting her face along the blades of his wings. The skarmory ended the battle quickly, knocking the gligar out of the sky with a sharp blast of wind from his wings.

While they waited for Roben's next pokemon, Scimitar rested his wings next to Samantha, nuzzling into her curly red hair carefully with his sharp beak. She patted his neck, marveling at how cool his metal body was, even under harsh sunlight, knowing from experience that Leo would have been too heated up to touch.

A sandslash was released as their next opponent. She quickly dug into the ground, while Scimitar stepped forward and took to the sky. He knew as well as Samantha did, that the sandslash could hardly hurt him while hiding under the ground of the platform. What neither expected was for the spiky pokemon to leap out of the ground and up into the sky, high enough that she could score her claws over his startled form. She had used brick break on him, creating a dent in the bird's hard shell. Though few things could pierce a skarmory's shell, it could still be damaged, and hurt the tender flesh under the shell terribly.

Still, Scimitar remained silent, bearing what had to be obvious agony without a sound. He swooped down on the sandslash before she could burrow again and held her down with his wicked talons as he pecked at her exposed head. Another round went to him, though Samantha could see he wouldn't last much longer.

The battle had swung into her favor, but barely. The cacturne that filled her skarmory's face with quills was weak against the brief pecking he received.

Both pokemon she had remaining had a single type advantage and weakness against the cacturne, causing Samantha to hesitate for a moment. She would send her strongest pokemon last, she decided, as she released Tulip onto the torn-up battlefield.

The medicham was caught in the position she seemed to spend the most time in. Sitting, legs crossed and hands clasped, her head bowed as she finished her silent meditations, Tulip sent a mental image to her trainer. It was of her hometown, Phenac City, the small waterfalls surrounding the oasis town pouring with life-giving water. An image to calm her, she realized, shaking it off and seeing her medicham now on her feet, stretching her legs as she watched Samantha. Trainer and pokemon smiled at one another.

Tulip and the last pokemon Samantha had ready for battle, Katrina the nidoqueen, had been the pokemon she started out with at age ten. They had struggled together to get this far, enduring crushing losses and sweet victories. It was natural that the three of them had the strongest bond, and Tulip's peculiar telepathic abilities just helped cement them further together.

_How're we looking? _The thought was transposed into her head as the referee called for the match to begin. Tulip stood impassively, sizing up the cacturne whose arms were glowing purple with the start of a dark-type move. Samantha quickly thought her way through the entire fight, as she said out loud, "Hi jump kick."

The connection she shared with Tulip was both distracting and helpful, as Tulip could often read her trainer's wishes before she could voice them. At that moment, her pokemon was quiet as she jumped in the air and lashed out at the cacturne. The move brought him down, as Tulip used her momentum to back flip and land gracefully a few feet away from her fainted opponent.

_One more._ Tulip was, as usual, calm and sure of herself. _Don't be so tense, darling. _Again Tulip pushed Phenac City into her mind. It was an image that always seemed to calm her trainer.

Roben's last pokemon roared as it was released from its pokeball, its voice a deep boom. The air around them seemed to stall for a moment, as the creature gathered power within itself and unleashed a sudden sandstorm within the arena, blowing hot sand in their faces. Samantha managed to be both relieved and worried at the same time. The tyranitar was a deadly opponent, but he had a distinct disadvantage, having two fresh opponents to face.

The tyranitar was a dark shadow within the sandstorm, moving with ease as Tulip nimbly rolled with the harsh winds, never losing her balance. She jumped towards her opponent at her trainer's thought command, but at the last moment she bounced off his heavily armored arms as he protected his face. Tulip landed in the dust accumulating at his feet, out of her trainer's line of sight.

The tyranitar hit the ground with his tail, causing the whole foundation of the platform to rumble and shake. Samantha lost her own balance as the ground quaked and a crack opened up under Tulip. The medicham fell into this crack and down into the tunnel burrowed earlier in the fight by Roben's sandslash, watching as the ground above her split wide open, the tunnel starting to collapse in on itself.

When the shaking stopped, a long swath of the arena was destroyed, and Tulip was visible only by the pieces of foundation she held over her head with her psychic powers. The two massive rocks would have crushed her otherwise, and she shot them at the tyranitar which was standing a couple yards above her.

Tulip leapt and landed facing the tyranitar, from the other side of the ring. She was winded, gasping for air as she looked into the shadowed face of the beast in front of her. This mental image she flashed to Samantha, so the young woman could know how sinister this creature looked in its natural element.

Again came the command to kick the tyranitar in the face. This time she succeeded, but rough paws held onto her leg as the beast caught her and bit down on her foot. Tulip howled in agony as she was tossed in Samantha's direction, unconscious and her foot bleeding freely.

Samantha swallowed hard, pushing her sunglasses farther up the bridge of her nose. She released her nidoqueen, her bulk shadowed in the sandstorm. Katrina beat on her heavily armored chest, growling at her opponent as she paced forward slowly, horn lowered.

Katrina's fierceness in combat knew no limits, making her Samantha's strongest pokemon. The battle was over, and Samantha had won. She knew this even as she earned herself a mouthful of sand to order her pokemon to use the move superpower. With a nod, the nidoqueen charged.

Light began to form in the tyranitar's mouth from an order Samantha hadn't heard. It glowed brightly enough to cut through the sandstorm and form a glowing ball of light—by the time it was charged, the trainer realized it was a hyper beam. A pulse of pure plasma was forced from the tyranitar's mouth, hitting Katrina square in the chest and sending her flying with enough momentum that she should have struck the force field that surrounded platform ninety-two, the field of energy that each platform shared to protect both trainers and pokemon from going off the edge.

Except the force field was not there.

Instead, the pokemon plummeted down to her certain death in the valley of Mount Battle's shadow. Samantha almost fell off herself as she rushed to the platform's edge and called, "Return!"

Katrina was already out of range of the pokeball's beam, having cut through the cloud cover.

She didn't register the sandstorm quitting, nor the presence of the elderly man who kneeled next to her and murmured something supposed to be apologetic to her. Her face was contorted with horror as her nidoqueen's empty pokeball fell from her nerveless fingers.

"N-no," she whispered. Tears stung the back of her eyes as she wailed, "_Katrina!_"


	2. Thievery

**Chapter 1  
Thievery**

Phenac City was quiet, come nightfall. Most people retreated to their houses early in wintertime, before the air turned chilling with the absence of sunlight. Samantha preferred her hometown this way; the soft trickle of reservoir water was audible, as it flowed through the tiny waterfalls that lined the city's walls. She could take her time walking down the familiar cobblestone path, listening to the bubbling water and the scuffle of her own feet, along with the subtle scrape of Aerian's claws on the stone. He sniffed around the city a few yards ahead of her, taking a brief bath in Phenac City's central fountain when they passed by it. The weavile's rare show of exuberance continued as he shook out his pelt, hitting his trainer and Tulip with stray water droplets.

Samantha did not react to her weavile; she dropped her gaze instead and continued counting her steps, releasing a vague sigh. Some part of her knew that she was stalling for time, when she could hop on her old hoverscooter and be home within minutes. _They will be in bed soon_, Tulip interrupted her thoughts. _We have travelled slowly all day._

"We're almost there," the trainer said aloud, partially acknowledging her pokemon's gentle rebuke. She pushed her hands deeper into her jacket's pockets. In the past few days, she'd had many unpleasant tasks to see too, and she knew this one would be the worst. The hardest. But also, the last one before she and her team could begin to move on. That thought didn't make it any easier, but she knew her family deserved to hear about Katrina's death in person, rather than by e-mail or phone.

Soon enough, the house Samantha had once called home was within sight. Its red brick was bleached with sun exposure, its roof flat, and its frosted window glowing golden. Samantha's breath hitched as she reached the door and stepped on the shadowed mat that had once asked visitors to "Wipe your paws!" It was likely faded beyond recognition now, it was so old. She steeled herself and knocked on the door forcefully.

A tall woman answered the door, crying wordlessly and sweeping Samantha into a hug. "Sammie! You've been away so long!" Her mother pulled them both into the house, leading to the warm glow of a single lamp, where Samantha was subjected to a thorough physical inspection. Rebecca Everett's expression had twisted into a concerned frown as she took in black clothes and morose look her daughter was wearing. "Tulip, be a doll and close the door, if you will," the older woman instructed as she pushed Samantha into a plush chair, instructing her to stay put, and bustled away through the small living room and past another door.

Tulip did as she was told, before settling on the soft rug close to her trainer's feet and shifting into the position she meditated in. Samantha couldn't help but relax as well, taking in familiar surroundings with a pang of regret, as she knew she would not be staying long.

Her mother was as poorly organized as ever, with stray manuscripts and papers lying about over the coffee table, covering the marble. A smaller, matching table sat in the corner of the room, and resting upon it was the lamp and what must be Rebecca's latest work: this book looked like an advanced copy, and it was open to a little past halfway with an uncapped pen resting next to it. Aerian claimed the worn, tan-colored loveseat where her mother had been sitting before her work was interrupted. The weavile kept his eyes adverted from the lamp's light, propping his head up with one of the loveseat's arms.

"Fable?" The question came from a light pink, pudgy pokemon which skipped into the room carrying a plate of cookies. Her mother's only pokemon, the clefable had been with her since before Samantha was born. Fairytale was looking old, her fur not so bright anymore, her ears less perky than they once were. She was, however, still smiling gently as she picked her way around piles of paper on the floor and offered the platter first to Samantha, then poked Tulip until the medicham quit her meditations and took something off the plate as well.

Murmuring her thanks, Samantha gave the fairy pokemon as much of a smile as she could. She knew that the clefable's hearing was incredibly acute; Fairytale wouldn't be able to hide her cringe had the trainer said it any louder. When her mother came out with a couple mugs of hot apple cider, she whispered to her daughter, "Please, tell me what happened."

Samantha sighed into her mug and waited for her mother to push Aerian aside so she could sit down next to him. She looked into her mother's blue eyes, noting the faint etch of crow's feet. Samantha couldn't remember seeing those before, or the line that ran between Rebecca's eyebrows. Then again, it had been a long time since she last visited home. Samantha and her mother had once looked so alike they could be sisters; they had the same curly, red hair and rounded face. She had never reached Rebecca's height, however, or developed the older woman's grace.

She moved her gaze away, glancing at Fairytale, who had settled on the arm of the loveseat next to her trainer. The pokemon munched on what cookies remained on her plate after she'd ensured everyone in the room had at least one.

"Where's Dad?" Samantha asked softly. She didn't want to tell the story more than she had to.

"Oh, you know your father. Always battling. He's off in Sinnoh competing," Rebecca's quiet voice held a hit of annoyance. "You may be interested in the photos he has of the area though. It's a lovely place, lots of water. Maybe he'll find a good sixth pokemon for you."

Samantha winced. She caught her mother's concerned look and was soon telling Rebecca everything about the Mount Battle Challenge she tried to win; how she pushed her pokemon toward the elusive goal of beating the last trainer, the man nicknamed Battlus who fought on platform one hundred. All for the sake of winning one last pokemon for her team if she defeated him.

She told her mother briefly about the battle which ended so badly, failing to hold back her tears as she replayed Katrina's last moments in her mind. She mentioned Mount Battle's mortician team of duskull; they had found her nidoqueen's body and burned it to ash, only appearing before her to surrender a porcelain jar with the remains inside.

Samantha dug out the jar from her backpack, unwinding the padding she'd put around it for protection and placing it on her lap, showing it to both her mother and Fairytale. Both were looking stricken by this point, but didn't interrupt her as she continued her story.

"They inspected platform ninety-two and figured out the battle had damaged it," she said, inspecting the jar in the lamplight. She couldn't pick out a single flaw on its surface. "And the Mount Battle official gave me a lot of PD. A hundred grand. I think they're going to make a new rule against hyper beam. Katrina isn't…the first…"

"Oh, honey," Rebecca cooed. She embraced her daughter again as best she could. "I know how much Katrina meant to you." She released Samantha and gently wiped the tear trails off her daughter's face.

"Y-yes," the trainer couldn't meet her mother's eyes. "That's why… I've decided I'm going to go to Kanto to honor her spirit. In her homeland, you see."

Rebecca stilled for a moment. "Of course. You'd lay her spirit to rest in the Pokemon Tower," she nodded. "That's a long way away from Orre."

"I know."

Samantha's hands were shaking as she retrieved her mug of cider and took a sip of the lukewarm liquid. "What do you plan after that, Sammie?" The question was inevitable, and was why she'd stalled almost an entire day in paying a visit to her mother.

"I'm… going to travel Kanto. It's about a year's journey, which is enough time for me to train two more pokemon," she replied. "Maybe at the end of it all, I'll be ready to come back to Orre and compete in the Gold Cup. As it is, I'll have a tough time battling in the Advanced Trainer Tier with a team of only four pokemon."

Silence greeted her, and she saw the tight expression on her mother's face. "You can't be a trainer forever, Sammie," the older woman finally said with a deep sigh. The girl braced herself. "What about your education? You're nearly an adult. No one will want to hire you into a worthwhile job if you don't even have a high school diploma!"

"Mom—battling is my life," Samantha replied slowly. "I don't need to know the history of Johto or how to recite pi to a hundred places to battle. All I need is my team, and a strategy."

Rebecca's jaw tightened even more, "You've done a mighty fine job of keeping yourself funded—"

"That reminds me," her daughter interrupted, fishing a handful of Pokedollars out of a pocket in her pack. She offered them to Rebecca. "I meant to pay back that last loan for a while now. Here, take it."

To her surprise, her mother pushed the proffered hand away. "That was a gift, honey," her mother suddenly sounded tired. The act had drained the anger from her face, replaced by weariness. "You'll need it in Kanto. It's a rough place…" Samantha kept her mouth shut firmly over the comment that Orre was the toughest region to train in. "…but at the end of it all, maybe you'll figure out on your own that you can't spend the rest of your life camping under the stars. Heaven help you, but you're turning out just like your father."

And that was the end of their conversation. Rebecca turned away before her daughter winced at her words. The older woman disappeared into the kitchen with her mug of cider in hand. _She took that better than I imagined,_ Tulip said, rousing from her meditations.

Samantha sighed at her pokemon as she carefully rewrapped Katrina's jar and got to her feet. She approached the kitchen cautiously, seeing her mother standing and gazing out the window, up at the full moon. "Samantha, be a doll and turn the lamp off in the living room," came her mother's tired voice. "You're welcome to stay here for the night. I imagine you're going off on your own again tomorrow."

"Yes, Mom," she replied quietly. "Good night."

She didn't receive any reply. Really, she wasn't expecting one.

Fairytale was drifting off to sleep when Samantha tried tiptoeing past her to get to the lamp. It was enough to wake the pink pokemon, who offered her a sad smile. "Fable. Clefff," the pokemon said quietly. She fanned her wings as she struggled to get to her feet.

_I am sorry for your loss, _Tulip translated automatically. _Katrina was a good friend. Never bad when she was a child. _

"Thank you," Samantha knelt and hugged the old pokemon. She waited until the clefable skipped into the next room with her empty plate before dousing the light.

Aerian beat her to her room, and she heard him bouncing once on her bed before he rested across it. He was wide awake, and expected her to be too. Samantha always had to return him to his pokeball to get any rest; otherwise, the weavile sought to keep her up all night. Some sort of payback, for waking him day after day, perhaps.

She let him have the bed, as she wouldn't be able to sleep if she tried. Instead, she took in the small room that used to be hers and sighed. The walls were crammed with old posters of her favorite Expert Tier trainers and their signature pokemon. She knew that many of the trainers she used to idol were now retired; yet she still kept the hope that she would one day battle some of the younger experts when she too was considered one of the best trainers in the world. And that goal was once clearly within her reach. She was one step away, a member of the third tier.

Starting out and surmounting the huge Beginning Tier had been a struggle. The first group was made to be the toughest, to weed out those not fit for the life of a trainer. After that, the Standard Tier was easy. She was still considered a part of the Advanced Tier now, even with four pokemon. But it would be hard for her to win with most of her opponents wielding five to six pokemon.

The easiest way to advance from where she was would be to win the Gold Cup, a nearly impossible feat in and of itself. Then, she could battle with the best trainers from across the five regions of the world. She shook her head. First she would need a full team to even try that.

"Soon, we'll be on a boat to Kanto," she told both her pokemon.

Aerian replied in his squealing, high-pitched voice, extending his front claws and sneering. The message was clear enough, without Tulip telling her that he was excited to start battling again.

_What of our two mystery teammates—do you have any species in mind? _Tulip asked mildly as she settled on the floor and began meditating again.

Samantha shook her head. "Not a nidoqueen… I don't think…" she replied quietly. She shut the door and crossed the room in a few steps to the last piece of furniture in her room, an old wooden desk and chair set. She lit the desk's lamp and sat gazing at an old, faded picture. A handsome, youthful version of her father stood posing with the Gold Cup. He was grinning at the camera, maybe because of his victory, or the young woman—Samantha's mother—with her arms flung around his neck, giving him a kiss on the cheek. A blaziken, her father's signature pokemon, stood to the side, striking a fierce pose, standing alongside the rest of his teammates. Even Fairytale was in the picture, still a clefairy at the time, her attention focused on something off camera.

The whole group looked so _happy_.

Samantha sighed. She dug into her pack for a thick book, the only piece of literature she kept. The glossy cover read in large letters: **Pokemon Field Guide**. She cracked it open to the section marked 'Kanto' and was greeted with pictures of the three starter pokemon from the region. Under each picture was an average statistical spread for the species, along with what routes to find them at, if any.

She flipped through the guide, pausing for a moment at the much-marked page that listed nidoran female. Her hand shook as she turned the page, and spotted another marked-up entry which held clefable. At one time, she'd hoped that Fairytale would fight for her. (She'd felt the pokemon's slaps—they hurt.) But the fairy was ultimately reclusive and shy, rarely venturing outside of the house. She was much more suited to life with Rebecca, who stayed home most of the day, editing novels quietly.

"Maybe a vileplume," she said a while later.

_I like my sense of smell, thanks._

"A golduck, then."

Samantha turned to look at her medicham, who was meditating with a smile on her face. _A golduck would work. They can survive without water._

Battling in Orre suited only a scant few water types. It was a pity, as rock, ground, and steel pokemon abounded and thrived, types that a water pokemon would walk all over. Most serious Orre trainers would kill for a good water type that could survive for weeks without water to swim in. Samantha knew she had lost every match against trainers with a pokemon like that, and few of the pokemon had originally come from Orre. The ones that originated in Orre were quagsire, pokemon caught at one of the spots that wild pokemon frequented. The competitive battling trainers had already caught or scared away the quagsire and wooper, its former evolution, from that spot before Samantha tried giving the Pokespots a shot.

"I'd like a rapidash," she murmured, shaking off her thoughts and gazing at the picture of a rearing, fiery horse with one long horn upon its forehead. "But I think—"

_They need shoes._

"—yeah, shoes."

She flipped through the handbook in silence for a while before sighing wistfully, "A dewgong would be amazing. They're such majestic pokemon."

_If it makes you feel any better, I've heard they smell._ Tulip said. _Like fish._

"I suppose most water types do, Tulip," Samantha replied. She was grinning, back to her old self for a time.

_Fish are for eating._

Samantha had to agree with her. "Okay, how about an electrode?"

_Boom baby, boom._

Samantha laughed. Her pokemon had a point. "A marowak. Could catch one in… the Pokemon Tower."

She kept going, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to look the pokemon in its eyes, knowing she'd caught it in the same place she was laying her old pokemon's spirit to rest. "Okay, a chansey."

Tulip laughed out loud. _You think we're even going to see a wild chansey?_

It was about that moment that Aerian began whining, and it was a nails-to-the-chalkboard type of sound. Tulip was obviously not including him in the conversation. His trainer returned him without much thought, clipping his pokeball with the other full ones. Rebecca had long ago forbidden Samantha's larger, sharper pokemon to stay in the house outside their pokeballs when Leonidas accidentally punched a hole in the carpet while walking. Her skarmory's offense was that he'd tried flying around the house one Christmas, back when he was still half-wild, and knocked the tree over. Katrina had been allowed though; she minded her manners well enough.

Samantha returned to looking through her book, saying, "Maybe we'll see a tangela or a kangaskhan."

_If the kangaskhan doesn't try to kill you first for getting too close. _

"Maybe an electabuzz or a magmar then. I think new evolutions have been found for them both in Sinnoh." Samantha shrugged. She hadn't battled either one of the evolutions, but could probably note them when she saw them.

"Oh, there are eevee too," she continued.

_I don't want to babysit a bratty little glamour puss. _Tulip, again, had a point. They'd only seen a couple of the rare pokemon, and they seemed a breed used mostly for pets. A shame, as some of its evolutions were rather strong.

"Well, that's about it for Kanto," Samantha said. "Maybe it'll have more pokemon than that."

_Maybe._

"Tulip… do you think, maybe we should go someplace else?" The girl doused the lamp and yawned. Looking through her book had calmed some of her jangling nerves.

_I wouldn't mind Hoenn, to be honest. After Katrina is at peace._

"Of course."

_But you'll probably be up all night looking at the Hoenn pokemon. Time to get some rest._

"Right. Good night, Tulip."

_Night, darling trainer of mine._

***

Samantha set off into the desert early the next morning after bidding Rebecca and Fairytale goodbye. She had no idea when she would next see them and her father as well, for that matter. She thought she might call him up that day as the sun climbed higher in the sky, but his phone rang on and went to voicemail, as it usually had in the past.

She sighed as she sped the hoverscooter to as fast as it would go, until stray bits of sand stung her face where it wasn't covered by her desert goggles and the scarf she had covering her nose and mouth. Tulip sat meditating on the edge of the seat behind her, staying rooted to the seat with her psychic powers.

Her medicham was trying to convince her that they needed to battle at least once before they got aboard the boat for the long ride to Kanto. She had been told it would take at least a month to get to the other region.

_I'm not ready to battle again yet, _she told Tulip mentally.

_A couple days on that boat will change your mind, _the pokemon replied.

Samantha chose to ignore her. It was easy to keep her mind off battling, as they didn't see any trainers for several hours. Lunchtime came and passed, which Samantha ignored. She hoped to reach Gateon Port by nightfall, and that left little time to dawdle.

It was late afternoon when the sand of the vast Orre desert began to give way to prickly shrubs and hardy green shoots of grass. These shrubs merged with short, twisted trees, until Samantha was riding underneath a canopy of leafless branches which twined with each other like long, thin fingers. Most of the fallen leaves were decayed and gone at this point, yet her hoverscooter still kicked up a few as she sped along the defined path through the forest, rough as it was.

And standing several yards away was the first person Samantha had seen all day. This man was lucky she was looking straight ahead, as she would have run right over him otherwise. The idiot was standing right in the middle of the path!

"Care for a battle?" He called, smiling when he realized she was slowing down to pass him. She'd been headed to fast to navigate around him otherwise.

_Say yes. It'll be good for the both of us. _Samantha had hoped that her pokemon was asleep, as Tulip had been quiet for quite some time. No luck on that.

She surrendered mentally to her pokemon as she stopped the hoverscooter completely and nearly fell off of it; she hadn't stopped even once to stretch the entire journey.

Tulip fared better, gracefully leaping to her trainer's side as Samantha steadied herself with a groan. She noticed the other trainer was looking at her medicham, his striking blue eyes intent. Samantha couldn't help but give him the same treatment, admiring his handsome face and the tanned arms which rippled with muscle as he picked a pokeball off his belt.

"One on one cool with you?" She asked, earning his attention at last. He turned his devastatingly white grin on her and nodded. It was about that point that she pulled the scarf down off her face, not realizing she was still wearing it outside the desert.

"Perfect." He replied, releasing a medium-sized, golden pokemon which grasped two spoons, one in each hand, holding them close as if they were priceless objects. He was floating a few inches off the ground with a rather bored expression on his face. An alakazam, Samantha thought with some annoyance. If she hadn't promised Tulip a battle, she'd have recalled the medicham and let Aerian go to town on the psychically powerful pokemon.

Instead, she took a few steps back, mentally sending suggestions to her pokemon to use the trees to her advantage, perhaps climbing them, or using them to get out of the other pokemon's line of sight. The medicham nodded, before saying cheekily, _Stop staring at the human like that. He's not the one doing the dirty work here._

Samantha sighed at her pokemon. "Thunderpunch," she ordered, and stole another glance at the other trainer. He winked at her, which was the most effective way to make her blush and return her focus to the battle. Tulip's fist crackled with psychically-generated electricity. She ran at her opponent, who simply yawned. At the last moment, the alakazam disappeared, Tulip's fist passing through empty air.

He'd teleported into a tree above her head, and was charging a bright green ball a couple feet from his chest. He shot the energy ball at Tulip, which she dodged at the last moment with a well-timed back flip. At Samantha's mental order, Tulip raised her hands and the air over her opponent's head began to shimmer as a light purple sword of light appeared, the psycho cut aimed directly for the top of his head.

Again he teleported, this time appearing behind Tulip. She turned and punched him across one cheek, an electric undercurrent passing between them, making the alakazam's body twitch. He dropped both spoons, fingers too numb to hold on to them.

"I like your medicham a lot," the other trainer said out loud.

As he said this, the alakazam's mind locked around Tulip in what was unmistakably the move psychic. She was immobilized. Tulip began to form a psycho cut with her own straining mind when the other trainer pulled a black pokeball from his pocket. He hurled it at Tulip, which hit the defenseless pokemon and sucked her in, clicking closed with barely a shake. "I like her so much, I think I'll keep her," the man continued, holding out his hand for the black pokeball, which obediently floated back to him.

"How DARE you!" Samantha roared, releasing her other three pokemon. It was a useless gesture, as the alakazam had already teleported the pair out before Scimitar, Leo, and Aerian materialized.

***

"—And he was gone before I… before I could do anything else," Samantha was holding back tears as she told the detective what happened. She had backtracked quickly to Pyrite Town, the closest civilization, and ended up in the office of Detective Emmett Greene, who sat across from her, his fingers steepled as he considered what she'd told him. He was a young man, in his early twenties perhaps, with crisp dark hair and a cleanly shaven face. He was also wearing a professional suit, and had regarded her carefully as she told her story.

The man's office was extremely plain, and also rather shabby, as was the case with the majority of Pyrite Town's buildings. The desk that separated them had a few neat stacks of paper; documents in various stages of completion. One such document was added to these piles by her, reporting what she'd experience today. On top of it was a sketch that Detective Greene had made of her descriptions of the trainer who'd stolen Tulip. He gazed at it now, before exchanging a glance with the gallade which had listened to her story as well. "What do you think?" He asked, addressing the masculine pokemon which regarded her with his bladed arms crossed.

"_The lady tells the truth," _he said aloud. The pokemon hadn't moved its mouth, yet Samantha still heard his voice as if he were talking instead of transposing his thoughts into her mind. She hadn't known before that gallade were able to sense lies.

Emmett nodded, cursing under his breath. "Miss Everett, you are one of several trainers who have come to this office in recent days," he addressed her. "All with variations of the same story. You meet a trainer in the desert, where they don't have to even tell you their name—not that it would matter, mind; it's an easy thing to lie about. They battle you, using a psychic type, generally a member of the abra family, which can teleport them quickly after they steal your pokemon. And every thief uses a black pokeball, which is powerful enough to capture even a highly-trained pokemon."

"And it also destroys the one it was in originally," Samantha interrupted, pointing out Tulip's old pokeball, which had been broken into four uneven pieces.

"Right," he sighed. "The news has been all over the story of the thieves, yet the number of trainers hoodwinked by this hasn't gone down yet."

"But these thieves, there must be only one or two, right?" Samantha asked when he lapsed into silence.

"No ma'am. It's more like thirty people, at the very least," he answered. "We've had very few physical descriptions that may match up."

Again, the silence. Detective Greene was lost in thought, she figured, and hesitated before asking, "So, what now?"

He was startled out of his reverie. Stealing a glance at the clock, he said, "Now, I suggest you get some rest and try to pass along the word of these pokemon thieves. I will be in contact with you if anything new develops. Here's my card—" he got to his feet and offered her a card from the holder that had sat on his desk. "—please don't hesitate to notify me if anything new develops on your end, Miss Everett. I want to catch these thieves as badly as you."

They walked out of the detective's office together, passing about ten other men and woman doing the same. He bade her good night, headed towards the northern apartments with his gallade by his side. The pokemon bowed to her before they parted.

Samantha headed the other direction, towards the seedy-looking hotel which was partially painted a bright yellow. It looked like the hotel owner had run out of money halfway through the job. Unfortunately, it was the only hotel in the nearby vicinity, and Samantha didn't want to risk running into another unsavory person as the sun set and night spread over the town.

She surveyed her cheap quarters with an eyebrow raised. They'd do her well for a night or two—and there was even a television. This she flipped on as she released Aerian from his pokeball. The weavile leered at her. He and Tulip had not gotten along well, and he showed little remorse now as he claimed the bed's thin pillow and said something in his yowling language. He, and the remaining two of her pokemon, already knew what happened, having been filled in as Samantha scrambled to explain why she'd released them all at one time.

Samantha sat next to her weavile, meeting him leer for leer for a moment. "The Kanto trip is on hold at the moment," she told him, before a voice from the television caught her attention. It was of a man's voice, playing over a slow motion scene of a ninjask striking an alakazam. The bug pokemon was moving too fast for the camera to catch a good image of it, even slowed down.

But it wasn't the pokemon she was interested in, even though that alakazam looked familiar.

It was the voice that chilled her veins, one that provided angry commentary over the trainer he'd lost to in this televised match.

The voice that belonged to the man who appeared on the screen, flashing his white teeth in a grimace that twisted his handsome face into something ugly.

The man who stole her medicham.

And the bottom half of the screen read:

**Trevor Maxwell  
Johto Region Competitive Battler**

She had him now.


End file.
